


The Storm

by Doceo_Percepto



Series: Bendy's Murderous Adventure Across Moominvalley [15]
Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine, Mumintroll | Moomins Series - Tove Jansson
Genre: Gen, I just like all the Moomin flood stuff, Nothing Bad Happens For Once, this is really casual actually
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-31
Updated: 2019-03-31
Packaged: 2019-12-30 01:20:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18305252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Doceo_Percepto/pseuds/Doceo_Percepto
Summary: Rains wash the canoe down to Moominvalley.





	The Storm

It started with a drizzle. 

 The Joxter was sprawled in the branch of a tree, white flowers draping over his cloaked form like a soft, sweet-smelling blanket, when the first droplets struck the canopy above, slithered down leaves and stems and dripped off petals, at last plinking upon his very sensitive cat-like whiskers. 

His eyes blinked open. He huffed. A small adjustment of his position, petals fluttered onto his face. He didn’t bother moving them as his eyes slid shut again. 

An indeterminate time later he woke again, now cold with his cloak slicked to his body, and a great deal of ruckus happening in the clearing below. The Joxter shook off wet petals and peered into the clearing. Ah, the usual inanity of his nest. 

Bendy, half-melted from the rain, was yelling insults at Happy, who had been put to the task of securing the tarp over the canoe. Poor Happy, the deluded little Snufkin so warped from his original nature, was absolutely bawling, wearing naught but a soaked flower crown and his cloak, and he was fumbling with the ropes. 

“Can’t ya go any faster?” Bendy yowled at him, “Don’t ya see I’m meltin’ here? Jeez, it’s like ya don’t even care at all, Happy.”

Happy wailed and in his panic, only struggled more with the ropes while Bendy angrily stomped and flailed his arms. 

The Joxter chuckled. He endlessly enjoyed watching those two’s ridiculous shenanigans - presuming it wasn’t interrupting a particularly peaceful nap. In this case, however, the rain really was beginning to bite into his skin, and he doubted Happy was getting anywhere with the tarp. The Joxter would be drenched, the canoe bed would be drenched, and Bendy would be very angry. Best to help out. 

The Joxter dropped from the tree. 

“Happy being troublesome again?” He asked over the rain, which was picking up. 

“The guy can’t do nothin'!” Bendy didn’t do so well in the rain. Ink was already running in rivulets down his face. There was some amusement in his words, but also impatience. 

“I’ll get the tarp.” The Joxter handed his hat to Bendy, who immediately held it over his head. The Joxter then shooed Happy out of the way (the poor boy was sobbing profusely and struggling to breathe), and set to the task. The tarp was a recent but very important addition to the nest. One side of it was nailed into the back of the canoe. The other was nailed onto two posts which framed the canoe. These posts could be raised and lashed in place with rope, in which case the tarp nicely covered the canoe and protected it from rain. When not in use, the ropes could be untied and the posts lowered so that the tarp tidily laid flat and out of the way. 

It was quite easy to maneuver, because the Joxter wasn’t fond of challenging tasks, but Happy was often inept with even the easiest of activities. It was no surprise at all he couldn't do this. 

“You’re truly incompetent,” The Joxter told Happy matter-of-factly. 

Happy’s hair was slicked down over his pale face. His big eyes kept flitting nervously to Bendy. Poor thing. He seemed to have the hardest time determining when Bendy was joking or serious, and tended to panic over the littlest things, thinking that the demon would hurt him. Of course, he wasn’t entirely wrong. Bendy hurt him frequently and spontaneously, often with no warning. Seemed like a waste to get so anxious over it, though, when it was bound to happen sooner or later. 

Well, the Joxter didn’t pretend to understand how a silly Snufkin’s head worked, if they worked at all. In a short time, he had the tarp raised. Bendy shot past him and tucked in the back corner, wrapping his tail around him and looking huffy.

The Joxter clambered after him, ignoring the ink-spattered cotton. With Bendy around, avoiding ink altogether was an impossibility. 

“Come along, Happy,” he called after the Snufkin, who was still shivering in the rain. “Don’t you want to be warm again?”

Lines of tension ran all along Happy’s body. Perhaps it wasn’t only the chill that had him shivering. Happy often froze up when it came to being in small or confined spaces with the Joxter or Bendy. 

“C’mon,” Bendy chimed in playfully. “Don’t make me come get ya!”   
  
Happy squeaked. All at once his gangly limbs were scrambling into the canoe. It was a tight fit, with the three of them, but not too horrible.

Bendy, whose mood had swiftly returned to normal after he stopped melting, bounded over to Happy (“Ow,” the Joxter grunted when he stepped on his thigh; “Sorry, Jox!”)

“Wanna play thumb war?” Bendy asked. 

“War-?” 

“What a nice idea,” the Joxter said. “A pleasant way for you to wait out the rain while I sleep.”

“Hold your hand like this-“ Happy yelped when Bendy grabbed his paw and wrestled it into the right shape. “There. An’ then your thumb like that - yeah! Mmkay, now - one, two, three, four, I declare a thumb war-” Bendy assumed a roguish expression, and his thumb looped around Happy’s before crushing it down. There was a crunch; Happy screamed. Cackling, Bendy let go and slapped his tail against the side of the canoe in amusement. “I won!”

“You didn’t even explain the rules, darling,” the Joxter remarked, his hand sneaking under his cloak as he watched Happy sobbing, giggling, and clutching his bruised and swelling thumb. “It’s not fair to play if he doesn’t know what he’s supposed to be doing.”

“Well, he just learned right now!” Bendy declared. 

“No, no, you had better explain fully before the next round, for fairness’ sake.”

“Oh, all right, all right. Don’t wanna be called no cheater or nothin’.” Bendy focused intently on Happy, who was now struggling to breathe again as he giggling hoarsely. “The point a’ the game, Hap, is t’pin the other’s thumb down an’ not get your own pinned. Ready?” 

"There," the Joxter said, satisfied. "Now it's a fair game."

Happy whined and shook his head, hair flinging water droplets. “I-I don’t wanna play.”

Bendy smiled patiently. “C’mon Happy.” He held out his paw invitingly.

“Please,” Happy mumbled more words, but they disappeared under the sound of the rain. “Don’t wanna play,” he repeated louder.

“I know,” Bendy said. He grabbed Happy’s paws, the Snufkin wailed.

Over the next several minutes, the Joxter pumped his hand between his legs while watching the game progess, while Happy grew increasingly distressed and panicky and the rain poured down in torrents. The Joxter was thoroughly occupied with this task when the canoe - moved. 

He paused, wondering if he had mistaken that little nudge he’d felt. Then no - it happened again, this time stronger: a lurch. 

“Oh dear,” the Joxter said.

“What was that?” Bendy asked, distracted from his game. 

Happy merely whimpered. 

The Joxter poked his head out of the tarp and looked down. Swiftly swirling eddies of muddy water were rushing this way and that around the canoe’s base, in some places, creating new channels under the canoe. 

“I believe we’re becoming afloat,” the Joxter stated. 

“Afloat?”

Another strong lurch as the water grasped them in its clutches. For a few moments the canoe rocked in place, as If deliberating. Then, _woosh_ , it was off! Up the canoe rose, and away it went, floating on the storm-tides. It bonked many a time on a tree, irritating the Joxter, frightening Happy, and delighted Bendy, who was getting into the spirit of things, whooping and dancing about like it was a ride. 

“We’re going to have to go through the whole pain of moving it back,” the Joxter moaned. 

Bendy leapt up onto the bow and started doing a rain-dance, until a particularly hard collision with a tree had him losing his balance. Only the Joxter’s quick reflexes saved him from plummeting off the edge, by yanking Bendy in by his tail.

“Hey!” Bendy grumped.

“I doubt you want to wash away,” the Joxter scolded him. “As it is, we’ll be lucky if our canoe doesn’t end up with holes that will flood it…”

“How likely is that?” Bendy now appeared worried, and huddled into the driest section of the canoe.

“We shall find out, I suppose.”

Bendy was significantly grumpier as the water rushed them along hither and thither. Between the trees they went, and into trees, and down a long long hill. Even the Joxter clutched the sides of the canoe, heart hammering, as they plummeted, certain at any moment they’d crash, the canoe would end in splinters, and all parties would be soaked and miserable. 

But to his surprise, they reached the bottom of the hill with no incident, and ended in an open valley defined by a tall blue house. The canoe circled lazily in the now tiring water. 

The worst of the storm had passed, though not without splashing into the canoe many times, leaving both the Joxter and Bendy irritated as wet cats. Happy profusely sobbed for no clear reason, but that’s just how he was. 

Very slowly, the clouds broke. Sun filtered down and speckled the drowned land. The Joxter put the tarp down, and trusted in the warmth and light to dry them - and the canoe - out. It also dried out the flood water, leaving them beached on grass.

“What a dreadful day,” he said. “Now we’re quite far from home.”

“We ain’t far from that home,” Bendy said, and pointed. 

Indeed, they were practically in the front yard of the large blue house. 

“Shall we ask for help?” The Joxter pondered. He wasn’t given a chance to contemplate it for long.

The door burst open and out ran a little Moomin child. He zoomed down the steps and beelined straight for the canoe, such that when he arrived, he hunched over and panted.

“Hullo,” the Joxter greeted.

“Joxter! Happy, Bendy!” He panted and gasped, “Are you okay!? I saw you from the window, but Mamma wouldn’t let me leave until the waters went down!”

“I’m sorry, who are you again?” The Joxter asked.

The boy wilted a bit. “Well, I’m Moomin! Don’t - don’t you remember?”

It took the Joxter a second, and then, “Oh, yes! Of course. You had soup with us the once.” The Joxter rearranged his cloak, “Did you find your dear Snufkin friend?”

A deep worried look passed over Moomin’s face like a cloud. “I haven’t,” he said. “I-I don’t know if I will at this point. He’s been gone so long, I just-“

“Now, none of that,” the Joxter said. “Snufkins, even yours, are simply Snufkins. It’s in their nature to wander. I imagine yours wandered too far, and I’m sure he’s making his way back to you as we speak."

Moomin hugged himself. “Golly, I hope so.”

Happy giggled; drawing Moomin’s attention to him. Moomin smiled nervously and waved. “Hi, Happy.”

“You never know with Snufkins,” Happy said hysterically, clutching at his own oversized cloak. “You never know with Snufkins. They get themselves lost.”

“Um. Yeah.” Moomin turned back to the Joxter. “Did you wash down all the way from the hills?”

“We did. Awful, isn’t it? Such a long way to go back.”

“Oh, oh, I bet we can help you!” And that was how Moomin went and fetched Moominmamma and Moominpappa to assess the situation. 

“A Joxter you say?” Moominpappa puffed his pipe. “Why, I can readily believe you. You look almost exactly like the Joxter I know!”

“That seems uncouth,” the Joxter muttered to Bendy, “we’re all quite different.” Bendy hardly seemed to hear him, as he immediately leapt to the edge of the canoe, grinning big.

“I’m Bendy! Nice t’meet’cha-“ a vigorous hand shake had Pappa looking startled. 

“A hearty fellow!” He declared. 

“Wonderful to meet you, Bendy,” Mama greeted.

Bendy tugged proudly at his bowtie. “I am pretty great. Oh, and this guy here is Happy. He’s a Snufkin!”

“A little wrong in the head, you know,” the Joxter commented, while Happy’s eyes jerked from one person to the next. Happy ought to know that Snufkins, and only Snufkins, warranted hurting, and yet every time they met a new person the delusional Snufkin seemed to think they’d go off hurting them. The Joxter couldn't imagine why he’d have that impression, in civilized company. “It’s best to ignore him,” the Joxter said delicately. 

“An’ don’t look too long at him,” Bendy agreed, “makes him nervous!”

“Oh! Poor boy.”

“Come on, Moomin,” Pappa boomed, patting his son. “Let’s help these men get their boat back to their home.”

“Not without some food in your bellies,” chided Mamma. “I’ll prepare some. Don’t work too hard yet!”

As she bustled inside, Moominpappa hummed and hmph’d over the canoe. “We’ll certainly need to remove all this bedding if we’re to carry it.”

“A necessary evil.”

“Smells awful, anyway.” Bendy noted.

With Pappa and Moomin doing most of the work, the bedding was cleared out and placed into bags.

Shortly after this task, Moominmamma arrived with orange juice, scrambled eggs and bacon for all, and for a bit there was the clanking of silverware and a soft hum of conversation, as the sun glittered on the dewy grass. 

“How far up in the hills do you live?” Moominmamma asked politely.

“Oh, quite far,” the Joxter replied, taking bacon from Happy’s plate, “He doesn’t like eating animals,” the Joxter added at Moommamma’s concerned look.

“I’m very sorry, I should have asked-“

“Not to worry! Anyhow, we live in a cozy little nook full of white flowers. There a Joxter can find peace!”

“Is he all right?” Moominmamma was worriedly looking at Happy, who was hunched over and tense.

“He gets nervous around strangers,” The Joxter said. “That’s why our nest is a good spot for him. He’s much more relaxed out in the wilderness, as Snufkins are.”

“He looks so much like Moomin’s little Snufkin!” Moominpappa said. “Doesn’t he, Mamma? The hat, cloak, everything!”

Moomin pulled away from his own conversation with Bendy and visibly deflated; Moominmamma sent Pappa a stern look. Then, softer, “it’s good you take care of him, Joxter, as a father should.”

“Oh, yes, I love him very much.”

“Is he getting enough to eat out there?”

“ _Hyeah,_ ” Bendy said harshly. “He’s gettin’ everything a Snufkin needs!”

“Yes, he just simply doesn’t gain weight,” the Joxter agreed, “no matter what we do.”

“Suggestin’ I can’t feed a Snufkin,” Bendy muttered as he ate his plate.

Moominmamma blinked. “Um-“

“Gimme yours-“ Bendy snatched Happy’s plate and ate that too, while the Snufkin hunched up and cautiously watched everyone present. 

“I will make some things to send on your way,” Mamma said worriedly. 

“Thank you kindly." 

After the meal, Mamma wrapped strips of meat as well as bread and berries and vegetables into many small cloths, which she placed in a basket and handed to Happy, murmuring a few comforting words and insisting he eat. She then said her farewells, and Moomin and Pappa prepared to set off. The canoe was hoisted on their shoulders. 

“Ooh, I’ll help!” Bendy cheered. 

“Don’t-“ the Joxter started, only to relax once he realized Bendy’s form of ‘helping’ was to spring on top of the canoe and shout, “Ahoy, mateys! Your captain will guide you!”

The Joxter took the rear and held Happy’s paw, content to take this rolling and slow. A small smile lit upon his face as he watched Bendy enthusiastically shouting orders to Moomintroll and Moominpappa while pointing in the incorrect directions to steer them. 

The Joxter kissed Happy’s paw. “We’ll get there in the end, won’t we, dear?” He winked. 

Happy laughed, eyes round. “Sh-should we tell them?”

“No, love. Let Bendy have his fun.”

 


End file.
